Oh, to be in class again

Today I donated my time and energies to NYU’s film production department to work on an end-of-semester project called “Speed Drills.” This involved students preparing a 2 character scene with professional actors, blocking it, setting up the sound stage, and shooting it from start to finish -- all in an hour. The scripts they are using are all from well known movies, so though I cannot really use any of them for my reel, it is certainly a good experience in getting something on it’s feet quickly. All of the actors are used for multiple scenes, with about 30 minutes of down time between each 1 hour segment.

It has been an absolute blast, but there is one thing I didn’t take into account when I signed on for this project. The actors have to MEMORIZE the lines. In less than one hour they’ve got to have lines and blocking memorized for a four page scene. My first few scenes have been fine, but then I did a scene from “Working Girl” where Tess (played by Melanie Griffith in the movie- I played this role) takes a novel idea to her boss (played by Sigourney Weaver) who later steals it. In that scene, Tess does all of the talking, including a monologue about broadcasting and FCC rules. I have always been a good memorizer, but this really challenged my skills! I now can say, with confidence, that you can give me a brand new scene that I have never read before and I will have it memorized in time to shoot 30 minutes later. Not only that, but the character will have an arc, and there will even be business with props. Seriously, now I feel like I can do anything!

Medical Warnings

I just saw a commercial about Advair, which is an asthma medication that treats both causes of asthma- constriction and inflammation. They said that it contains salmeterol, and that (and I quote), “salmeterol may increase the chance of asthma related death.”

Um, doesn’t this seem counterintuitive?

Sorry such a lapse

I am sorry it has been so long, but I have been tending to something that sprouts every year when spring hits. No, I wasn’t raking leaves, nor was I buying fresh flowers for the apartment. No, I was addressing the one drawback to spring that people don’t dare blog about. Ok, I’ll just come out with it...

(deep breath) I was putting bandages over all of the damned blisters I am get from my spring shoes!

My poor baby feet have been sheltered in socks and comfy shoes or boots for 6 months. Now they are screaming at me, “How dare you do this to us??? Just for that, we are going to shed our top layer in 8 different places, and only in the places where your shoes rub them. Mutiny!”

So, excuse my absence. Hopefully my feet will let me blog more frequently in the coming days. Fingers (and toes) crossed.